SFGI Direct Savings Account Joins the 1% Club

SFGI Direct increased the rate of its online savings account yesterday. The APY increased from 0.91% to 1.01%. Thanks to DA reader cumulus who reported on this increase in the DA forum. It’s nice to see another internet savings account join the 1% club. Hopefully, it’s a sign for things to come in 2014.

My last review of SFGI Direct was just over a year ago when the bank raised its savings account rate from 0.91% to 0.94%. SFGI Direct has been around for over four years. Summit Community Bank in West Virginia launched SFGI Direct during the summer of 2009 with a 2.25% APY. My first report on the account was in July 2009. The bank was careful not to let SFGI Direct grow too fast. Twice it stopped accepting new account applications. For most of 2010 the account was closed to new customers. It finally reopened the account in October 2010, and it has remained opened since then.

Below is SFGI Direct's rate history. I also included some of Ally Bank's savings account rate history so you can see how competitive SFGI Direct has been in its history. For most of its history, SFGI Direct's savings account has been much more competitive than Ally Bank’s savings account.

01/09/14: 1.01% APY (Ally Bank Savings 0.85% APY)

11/04/13: 0.91% APY (Ally Bank Savings 0.86% APY)

05/29/13: 0.86% APY (Ally Bank Savings 0.84% APY)

12/13/12: 0.94% APY (Ally Bank Savings: 0.95% APY)

02/09/12: 0.91% APY

10/28/11: 1.01% APY (Ally Bank Savings: 0.85% APY)

08/15/11: 1.11% APY

06/25/11: 1.16% APY

04/04/11: 1.21% APY

02/19/11: 1.31% APY

12/03/10: 1.41% APY (Ally Bank Savings: 1.09% APY)

10/01/10: 1.26% APY - re-started accepting new applications

08/06/10: 1.35% APY

05/25/10: 1.51% APY

04/08/10: 1.65% APY

02/26/10: 1.75% APY (Ally Bank Savings: 1.39% APY)

11/13/09: 1.85% APY

11/06/09: 2.25% APY - stopped accepting new applications

09/30/09: 2.25% APY - re-started accepting new applications

08/10/09: 2.25% APY - stopped accepting new applications

07/25/09: 2.25% APY (Ally Bank Savings: 1.75% APY)

Except for the savings account rate, SFGI Direct looks the same as it did when I last reviewed it three years ago. As I mentioned then, the savings account has some nice features. Some of the notable features include:

Bank Overview

SFGI Direct is the online division of Summit Community Bank which has 17 branches in West Virginia and Virginia. This is up from 15 branches in 2010. It's interesting to note that deposits haven't grown much in four years. In December 2009, it had $1.02 billion in deposits. Based on FDIC data as of September 2013, total deposits at the bank are still only at $1.02 billion.

The bank hasn't been in the best financial shape. Over the last three years its financial numbers have improved slightly. It currently has an overall health grade of a C+ with a Texas ratio of 49.19% (average) based on September 2013 data. Please refer to to our financial overview of SFGI Direct for more details.. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1995 (FDIC Certificate # 34102).

How This Savings Account Rate Compares

This is another internet savings account to join the 1% club. We have seen a few other savings accounts join this club over the last few months. Just recently First Trade Union Bank started to offer 1% for a $2,500 minimum balance on its FT High-Yield Savings Account. Last November, Emigrant Bank launched MySavingsDirect with a no-minimum savings account that has a 1.00% APY. In October, iGObanking.com increased the yield on its money market account to 1.00%, but this requires a $100,000 minimum balance. SmartyPig has been offering a 1.00% APY on its savings account without a balance cap since June 2012. Lastly, Connexus Credit Union has been offering a 1.15% APY for a $100,000 minimum balance since April 2011. However, this requires an active checking account. All of the above rates are nationally available as of 1/10/2014.

Only 1 external link for ACH's originating on their website I imagine.

However, can't you do ACH's in and out with originations from multiple institutions?

I know Incredible Bank allows ACH orignations on their site or at another banks site. Their website isn't very clear about the greater $ limits available with external ACH originations. Anyway, I've found this with many banks and might be worth checking out for this one.

> However, can't you do ACH's in and out with originations from> multiple institutions? >Yes. No problem, no limits on amounts transferred. Been anaccount holder for a number of years and routinely do pullspushes from other (Ally, Alliant, etc.) places.

> Two day hold for ongoing ACH deposits is not acceptable . . .>I do such transactions routinely with SFGI; have NEVER had any suchholds occur! Always have had deposit date = funds availability date.Been a customer since October 2009.

"No beneficiaries can be designated in the online application (per FAQ)"The FAQ seems to be updated to - "During account opening you many designate up to four beneficiaries on the account....Beneficiaries cannot be added to current accounts."Looks like beneficiaries can be named ONLY during the application process.

SFGI Direct made a slight increase to its online savings account rate yesterday. The APY increased from 0.91% to 0.94%. Thanks to DA reader cumulus who reported on this increase in the DA forum. Since rate increases are rare these days, I thought it was worth a post. Also, it has been awhile since my last review of SFGI Direct.

SFGI Direct has been around for over three years. Summit Community Bank in West Virginia launched SFGI Direct during the summer of 2009 with a 2.25% APY. My first report on...

Since this is so rare these days, I thought it would be worthwhile to highlight SFGI Direct's rate increase. SFGI Direct increased the yield on its online savings account from 1.26% to 1.41% APY late last week. With rate cuts so common these days, it's nice to see a rate hike for a change.

SFGI Direct is fairly new, but it does have more than a year of history with competitive rates. It was launched during the summer of 2009 with a 2.25% APY. My first report on the account was...

SFGI Direct is now accepting new applications. The "Apply Now" button is back on its front page, and SFGI Direct is continuing to offer 2.25% APY on all balances (as of 9/30/09). I first reported on this new internet bank in this July post. In July the 2.25% APY was a very competitive rate, but there were several savings accounts with higher rates. The rate must have been high enough to attract lots of customers. By August 10th, they had suspended accepting...

Update 12/03/10: The rate has increased from 1.26% APY to 1.41% APY. Refer to the bottom of the post for the rate history.

SFGI Direct is a new internet bank from Summit Community Bank. It's offering a very competitive rate of 2.25% APY (as of 7/25/09) on a no-minimum savings account. In addition, from the bank's FAQ, it appears to have some nice ACH bank-to-bank transfer features. These include:

You can link as many external accounts as you would like (appears to have changed as of 9/30/09)

So today may be your last chance for this 2.25% APY savings account. I have to give the bank credit for keeping this very competitive rate since it began last summer. As with any bank, it can only take in so many deposits, and the bank isn't large. As of 6/30/09, the FDIC reported that Summit Community Bank (the bank behind SFGI Direct) had $1.57 billion in assets and $964 million in deposits.